Polished, smooth rocks found by NASA's Curiosity Rover suggest the
planet once had a swift moving streambed, with depths of up to 3 feet
and water that moved at speeds of up to 1.6 miles per hour.The pebbles were originally discovered by the rover in 2012, but new
analysis of the data has given scientists more clues about the stream."We know it was a streambed because it takes a fast flow to move pebbles
of this size, and they're rounded," says Dawn Sumner, a researcher at
the University of California, Davis, one of the authors of the study.
"The rounding requires that they're banged against each other and the
sand a huge number of times to break the edges of the rocks. It's like
how you polish rocks in a polisher, you hit them against each other over
and over."

Remnants of Ancient Streambed on Mars (White-Balanced View)

NASA's
Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars
at a few sites, including the rock outcrop pictured here, which the
science team has named "Hottah" after Hottah Lake in Canada's Northwest
Territories. It may look like a broken sidewalk, but this geological
feature on Mars is actually exposed bedrock made up of smaller fragments
cemented together, or what geologists call a sedimentary conglomerate.
Scientists theorize that the bedrock was disrupted in the past, giving
it the titled angle, most likely via impacts from meteorites.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover found evidence for
ancient, water-transported sediment on Mars at a few sites, including
the rock outcrop pictured here, named "Hottah". Rounded pebbles within
this sedimentary conglomerate indicate sustained abrasion of rock
fragments within water flows that crossed Gale Crater.

The key
evidence for the ancient stream comes from the size and rounded shape of
the gravel in and around the bedrock. Hottah has pieces of gravel
embedded in it, called clasts, up to a couple inches (few centimeters)
in size and located within a matrix of sand-sized material. Some of the
clasts are round in shape, leading the science team to conclude they
were transported by a vigorous flow of water. The grains are too large
to have been moved by wind. Erosion of the outcrop results in gravel
clasts that protrude from the outcrop and ultimately fall onto the
ground, creating the gravel pile in the left foreground. The scale bar
at lower right is 5 centimeters (2 inches).

This view of Hottah
is a mosaic of images taken by the right (telephoto-lens) camera of the
Mast Camera instrument (Mastcam) on Curiosity during the 39th Martian
day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Sept. 14, 2012 PDT/Sept. 15
GMT). It has been enhanced for presentation in white-balanced color,
which yields a view as if the rock were seen under outdoor lighting
conditions on Earth, which is useful for scientists to distinguish rocks
by color in familiar lighting. A "raw color" view of Hottah, showing
the colors as recorded by the camera on Mars, is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16156 . A stereo view is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16223 .

Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Mastcam.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Mars Science Laboratory
mission and the mission's Curiosity rover for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and
assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena.

So what happened? What made the ancient stream vanish? On earth, our guess would be pollution or overuse if a stream disappeared.

But up on Mars?

It is possible alien life visited or even started on Mars and left.

It is also possible that the stream vanished as part of the radiation problems that Curiosity's detecting. BBC News reports:

Nasa's Curiosity rover has confirmed what
everyone has long suspected - that astronauts on a Mars mission would
get a big dose of damaging radiation.

The robot counted the number of high-energy space particles striking it on its eight-month journey to the planet.Based on this data, scientists say a human travelling to and
from Mars could well be exposed to a radiation dose that breached
current safety limits.

Nicole Lee (Engadget) has a nice illustration of the radiation. Curiosity has done so much on this mission to inform us about Mars. I wonder what sort of a grade she will receive in the end? I am blown away by Curiosity's work but I wasn't one of the ones planning her mission. Those planning the mission could have expected even more. I don't see how but that could be the case. As for me, I am thrilled with all the work Curiosity's been doing. Maybe she'll get Person of the Year this December?

Thursday, May 30, 2013. Chaos and violence continue, 872 violent deaths
so far this month, Moqtada al-Sadr calls for Iraq to get a new
president, rumors about President Jalal Talabani's health move from Arab
social media to the Arab press, the United Nations warns of "systemic
violence" and "mayhem" in Iraq, Iraq's oil production drops for the
month of May, CNN closes shop in Baghdad, US Senator Patty Murray gears
up for a press event to raise awareness of rape and assault in the
military, the IRS scandal continues to bubble with 76% of Americans
wanting a special prosecutor to be appointed, and more.

FOR PLANNING PURPOSESThursday, May 30th, 2013 CONTACT: Murray Press Office (202) 224-2834TOMORROW: MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT: SEATTLE: Murray to Meet with
Survivors of Military Sexual Assault, Discuss Her Bill to Protect
VictimsOf the estimated 26,000 cases of military sexual assault in 2012, only 3,374 were reportedMurray bill would provide greater victim resources while improving current prevention programs(Washington, D.C.) – Tomorrow, Friday, May
31st, 2013, U.S. Senator Patty Murray will meet with survivors of
military sexual assault and advocates in Seattle. Last month, Senator Murray
introduced the Combating Military Sexual Assault (MSA) Act of
2013, which would reduce sexual assaults within the military and address a
number of gaps within current law and policy. One provision in Senator Murray’s
bill would provide victims with a dedicated counsel to guide them through the
difficult process of reporting sexual assault. According to DoD estimates, there
were about 19,000 cases of military sexual assault in 2010 alone. Of these,
3,192 were reported, leaving thousands of victims to face the aftermath alone as
their assailants escape justice. That number rose to 26,000 cases in 2012 with
less than 3,400 of those cases being reported. Murray will use the stories she
hears Friday to continue fighting for victims of military sexual assault in
Washington, D.C. More about Senator Murray’s bill HERE.

Last night, filling in for Ann, I noted
30-year-old Anthony K. Mastrogiovanni had "pleaded guilty today to the
sexual exploitation of minors to produce child pornography" as a Justice
Dept press release noted and it also noted:

According to filed court documents and proceedings, between 2006 and
2012, Mastrogiovanni was a U.S. Navy reservist who sexually exploited
more than 30 male juveniles, ranging from 9 to 16 years of age, in
Maryland and Louisiana to produce child pornography. During that time
period, Mastrogiovanni met and befriended his victims through his
involvement in civic organizations or his military affiliation.
Mastrogiovanni captured sexually explicit video of the victims on
cameras hidden in his residences in Louisiana and Maryland.

* Senators Barbara Boxer and Kirsten Gillibrand have a bill (Military
Justice Improvement Act) to prevent military commanders from overturning
verdicts (to allow those convicted or rape and/or assault to be stuck
with those convictions the way they would in the civilian world)

* US House Rep Jackie Speier has a bill (reintroduced) to create an
independent oversight office to handle investigations and prosecutions
of assault and rape.

* Senator Amy Klobuchar has a bill to keep convicted sex offenders from entering the military

* Senator Klobuchar and Senator Claire McCaskill have a bill to
establish standards for those over the assault prevention programs.

* US House Rep Niki Tsongas and US House Rep Mike Turner have a bill
where if you're convicted of rape or assault you end up kicked out of
the service.

These bills are needed because despite all the talk from the Defense
Dept over the last ten years, they've failed to create policies that
addressed the issues the bills cover. I'm really hoping the Murray
event gets coverage because the range and scope of her bill and the five
above go just how much work needs to be done to combat assault and rape
within the military.

UNAMI issued the following on Wednesday:Baghdad, 30 May 2013 – On 29 May, the Special
Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG),
Mr. Martin Kobler, briefed the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European
Parliament (AFET) on the current developments in Iraq.
In his exchange of views with the parliamentarians, Mr. Kobler
expressed serious concerns over the heightened level of violence in Iraq
and the danger that the country falls back into sectarian strife, if
decisive action is not taken by its political leaders. “The country
stands at a crossroads,” the UN Envoy said, calling for a stronger EU
role in dealing with the developments unfolding in the country, and for
increased interaction with the Iraqi Council of Representatives.
Mr. Kobler also briefed AFET on UNAMI’s efforts to resettle the former
residents of Camp Ashraf to third countries. He deplored the lack of
cooperation of the residents and of their leadership with the UNHCR and
UN monitors, and urged them to accept concrete resettlement offers.
Stressing that “resettlement to safe countries is the only durable
option”, he called again on European Union member states to accept
former Camp Ashraf residents into their countries.

On violence in Iraq, let's move to the US. First, of all the times to
leave -- from a journalistic stand point, now is when you leave Iraq?

To be the last to leave, the last to be gone,stolen from the ones who hung on to it.

To be the last in line, the ones that live on,silhouette of a dream, treasured by the ones . . . who hung on to it.
-- "Fireflies," written by Stevie Nicks, first appears on Fleetwood Mac's Fleetwood Mac Live.

Erik Hayden (Hollywood Reporter) reports
today that the last US TV network with a news bureau in Baghdad, CNN,
has announced they are closing it. They quote a spokesperson for CNN
(nameless because this is so embarrassing would you want your name
attached?) stating, "While CNN is departing its current brick-and-mortar
location in Baghdad, the network continues to maintain an editorial
presence in Iraq through a dedicated team of CNN stringers and
correspondent assignments as news warrants." This is when CNN pulls
out? And no one thought how this would hurt their news image just when
they're rebuilding and gaining viewers by supposedly focusing on news?
Hayden explains, "Fox News confirmed to THR that, after the recent closure of
their own bureau this year, they rely on stringers and correspondents
based in Iraq for their coverage. ABC News and NBC News have one
full-time producer based in the capital city."

The violence is at a five year high as CNN closes its bureau? It might
be interesting here to note Noam Chomsky's remarks about what happened
to the world press when the violence increased in East Timor. CNBC's Pozner and Donahue had Chomsky as a guest for the full hour on the April 20, 1993 and April 22, 1993 episodes. Excerpt.

Noam Chomsky: It's as if history set up a controlled experiment.
There were two major atrocities at the same time, same part of the
world, roughly comparable in scale. One of them was an Indonesian
invasion and annexation, East Timor. The other was Pol Pot atrocities
internal to Cambodia. The coverage -- The coverage was dramatically
different. The coverage of East Timor declined sharply as the
atrocities continued. The coverage of East Timor was pretty high before
the Indonesian invasion. It then declined and hit zero in both the
United States and Canada -- and most of the western world -- in 1978
when the atrocities really reached genocidal proportions. In Cambodia,
on the other hand, there was huge publicity. Within a few weeks of the
Khmer Rouge takeover, the New York Times was already denouncing genocide
and probably a few hundred or thousand people had been killed. Well
what was the difference? The difference was in one case the United
States was directly behind it. It was providing 90% of the arms. It
was providing crucial diplomatic support.Phil Donahue: East Timor. The Indonesian invasion of East Timor.Noam Chomsky: The US provided critical diplomatic support. Daniel
Moynihan took pride in the fact that he prevented the United Nations
from doing any action -- he writes about it with great pride. The US
gave them new offers of arms. As the attack peaked, Carter sent more
arms. And Cambodia was an enemy. You can be very moral about the
atrocities committed by an enemy.
And it's safer, career wise, to 'cover' Syria (call for war on Syria)
than it is to cover Iraq. The US is arming Nouri, they've sent more US
troops back in. No one wants to tell the truth. Dropping back to the April 30th snapshot:

No other media outlet amplified Tim Arango's NYT report. No media
outlet covered the Memorandum of Understanding. The White House backs
Nouri al-Maliki and so you get no honesty and now you get even less
coverage. But war on Syria is wanted so Deborah Amos and others with
NPR end up in that country. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen as
an 'enemy' by the US government so McClatchy has someone covering it
and the New York Times has a whole squadron -- in fact their star
reporter would probably be alive today if he'd stuck to covering Iraq
but Syria was 'fresh meat' for the cannons of war and off he rushed.Turn
on the evening news on commercial US broadcast networks (CBS, ABC and
NBC) and you'll find reports from Syria. You won't find Iraq.

The US State Dept today issued "Country Reports on Terrorism 2012." The annual report focuses on terrorism or 'terrorism' around the world. The Iraq section includes these claims:Iraqi security forces made progress combating al-Qa’ida in
Iraq (AQI) and other Sunni insurgent organizations in 2012. While there
has been clear and measurable success against AQI over the years, the
group still remains a dangerous threat to the Iraqi people. In 2012,
there were no significant attacks on U.S. interests or U.S. fatalities.
The Iraqi government succeeded in securing multiple large public
religious gatherings and government events – most notably the Arab
League Summit in late March and P5+1 talks in May in Baghdad – but
terrorist bombings and other attacks continued to occur.The Government of Iraq concentrated its counterterrorism efforts
against AQI and other Sunni-affiliated terrorist organizations. AQI
remained capable of large-scale coordinated attacks and conducted
numerous high-profile suicide and car bombings on government and
civilian targets, aiming to increase tensions among Iraqi sectarian
groups and ethnic minorities, and undercut public perceptions of the
government’s capacity to provide security. Jaysh Rijal al-Tariqah
al-Naqshabandiyah (JRTN), a Sunni nationalist insurgent group with links
to the former Baath Party, also continued attacks during the year. JRTN
largely targeted Iraqi and U.S. interests in northern Iraq. Shia
militant groups Kata’ib Hizballah, Asa’ib Ahl Haqq, and the Sadrist
Promised Day Brigades adhered to the cease-fire they declared in the
latter half of 2011 and early 2012. Some former Shia militant leaders
began engaging in the political process and competing for political
influence.Terrorist tactics and weapons remained largely unchanged from 2011,
as AQI and other terrorists relied predominantly on suicide bombings and
car and roadside bombs and to a lesser extent on gunmen using assault
rifles or silenced weapons to assassinate government and security
officials.Iraq-U.S. counterterrorism cooperation remained strong, particularly in training, advisory, and intelligence-sharing programs.The Iraqi Security Forces proved capable of working together to
find, arrest, and charge terrorism suspects. In November, the Iraqi
Police, Federal Police, and Iraqi Army – at times working together –
arrested over 350 people on terrorism charges and seized several weapon
and rocket caches, as part of a major counterterrorism operation. Iraq’s
Counterterrorism Services (CTS) also conducted approximately 1,600
terrorism related arrests in 2012.

We're not going to spend a lot of time on the above because, first of
all, it's almost June 2013. Iraq's far too fluid for a look at 2012
violence to offer a great deal of insight. Second of all, it's a
dishonest report. When you're praising the ability to 'secure' the Arab
League Summit and you're not noting that Baghdad shut down the week
before the Summit? You're not being honest. If you can shut down
Baghdad for the week before and the week of a Summit, it's not a
surprise that there's no violence in Baghdad. Was it worth it to the
Iraqi people? Was it worth it to them for all that money for security
(and painting and prettying Baghdad) and for the inconvenience of the
city shutting down for two weeks? Probably not. But that's not even
considered in the report which fails to note any of the details of the
Arab League Summit -- which was a huge failure and avoided by the
leaders of all the major countries in the region. So we'll note the
ridiculous claims but we're not going to focus on them. And the
'international' meet-ups in Baghdad continue to be a laugh.

May 7th, Aswat al-Iraq reported, "Ministry
of Higher Education will hold tomorrow its International Conference on
Sustainable Development in Iraq with the participation of Arab and
foreign universities." Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research issued a statement trying to play it as a big success. Then they issued this statement which buries reality in the final paragraph:

While
inaugurating the International Conference to achieve sustainable
development in Iraq which was organized by the Ministry, His Excellency
Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Mr. Ali Al-Adeeb,
called on researchers and faculty members in the educational
institutions to follow new methods to liberate man from the extremist
ideology which became one of obstacles to the development in Iraq.

Mr. Al-Adeeb said that the sustainable development in Iraq needs basic
steps represented by the liberation of man from extremist behaviors and
providing security, justice and equality, adding that the universities
can prepare studies that contribute to the integration of Iraq with the
countries of the developed world.

Al-Adeeb added that the Iraqi universities should take their vital and
prominent role in establishing a knowledge base that contributes in
building a contemporary educational system, able to adapt the revolution
of knowledge witnessed by the world, indicating that human freedom is
an important issue, allows everyone to think away from the exploitation,
launching the energies and capabilities to create life and guiding
community to its correct identity.

Mr. Al-Adeeb pointed out that we cannot benefit from the science in an
environment that lacks security and stability, and the variety in the
community represents an important factor that leads to the integration
in achieving development, adding that the universities and the
educational institutions are the first and the effective factors in
speeding up the development of society in all fields.

It is worthy mentioning that the conference was attended by researchers from Bahrain, Sudan, Yemen and Libya.

The 'international conference' was supposed to have participation from
Arab universities. See any major players there? Bahrain, Sudan, Yemen
and Libya? Nope. Bahrain's government is hated by two-thirds of the
Iraqi population (and protested regularly in Basra and Baghdad by
Moqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite supporters). And that's the most prominent of
the four. The best excuse is that violence scared the major players
from attending.

[T]he death squads were the most ambiguous aspect of the war. They
carried out kidnappings and killings by wearing Iraqi police uniforms,
and traveling in official and military vehicles in 2006-2007 — while an
evening curfew was in place (from midnight to 6 a.m.) — to hunt for
their victims.
This term goes back to before the civil war, when The Washington Post used it on Dec. 4, 2005, while criticizing the way the Iraqi police forces were formed and infiltrated by militias.
Remarkably, the term has re-emerged after eight years. As news reports in Baghdad talked about the return of militants and killings carried out by armed militias in broad daylight, the Sunni Mutahidoun bloc held the Iraqi authorities responsible for this matter and accused them of bringing back the civil war.

These Shi'ite militias have alarmed many including cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr. AFP notes, " Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr criticized the
government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, accusing the Premier of
waging a sectarian war and urging him to end the oppression of
minorities. [. . .] The government must hold accountable and sack
those who are manipulating the intelligence and security services, Sadr
said in a statement. He also urged the authorities to work hard in order
to defuse sectarian tension ravaging Iraq."

Dillon Clancy (New Europe) observes, "Tension has erupted over the perception that prime minister Nouri
al-Maliki is actively working to marginalise Sunnis and concentrate
power in his own hands. Over the past year the Maliki government has
arrested or exiled a number of high level Sunni officials, most notably
vice president Tareq al-Hashemi and finance minister Rafi al-Issawi,
provoking widespread protests CNN has reported."
The violence has been increasing for some time. A smart move would have
been to have filled the security ministries with people to head them.
That was supposed to happen in 2010. All these years later, it still
hasn't. All Iraq News notes
MP Yousif al-Taai, with Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc, "stressed the necessity
of nominating the security ministers rather than running the security
ministries by acting ministers."
Back in July, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed,
"Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting
power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions,
including the ministers of defense, interior and national security,
while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."

As the turmoil swirls, where is Iraq's president? Last December, Iraqi
President Jalal
Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December
17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20th,
he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently. At the
start of the month, there were new rumors swirling about his health and,
this past
week, Nouri al-Maliki attempted to have Jalal stripped of his post this
month.
(Parliament rejected the notion.) Following that, Al Mada ran a photo of Jalal Talabani seated outdoors with his medical team and
noted the team states the Iraqi President's health has continued to
improve and he will return to Iraq shortly.

Arabic social media has been referring to the photos and the video as having a Weekend At Bernie's type feel to it. (In Weekend At Bernie's,
two young men prop up the corpse of dead Bernie to trick people into
believing he's alive.) The fact that Jalal's only seen in the photos
from his right side have people speculating about what the
left side shows -- the after-effects of a stroke? Salah Nasrawi (Al-Ahram) notes:

Rumours have been abundant about Talabani’s health condition as his
convalescence coincides with one of Iraq’s most serious political crises
and its deadliest period of ethno-sectarian strife since the United
States pullout in 2011.
Some reports have suggested that Talabani is clinically dead in the
Berlin hospital where he is treated, others said the enfeebled president
has handed his will to one of the leaders of his party.
Regardless of the furious speculations among Iraqis about Talabani’s
health conditions, his prolonged absence has sparked a debate about
whether he will be physically able to resume official duties.
According to various medical studies, persons who had strokes mostly
develop serious physical and emotional problems occurring after recovery
and they will need prolonged treatment.

Some political observers are skeptical of the photographs, in which
Talabani appears seated in only one position. They stress that the
photos were released after the prosecutor general of the Iraqi Council
of Representatives issued a statement, on May 13, calling on the head of the council to take legal action pursuant to the provisions of Article 72.II.c of the Iraqi constitution in the event of a vacancy in the office of the president. The request is also based on provisions of Article 1 of amended Public Prosecution Law no. 159 of 1979.
Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr supported this request and said in a statement,
"It is necessary to take the necessary steps to appoint a new president
of the republic to replace President Jalal Talabani." Sadr also thanked
the public prosecutor and asked him to "be independent."
But the Legal Committee in parliament responded via Kurdish MP Khaled Shawani,
deeming this request illegal and saying "Article 72 of the constitution
talks about the vacancy in the post of president of the republic, not
an absence. Vice President [Khodair al-Khozaei] has assumed the
responsibilities of the presidency." He continued, "Parliament is not
obliged to implement this request."

A popular rumor in Arabic social media for the last two weeks has been
that Nouri al-Maliki has asked Hero Ibrahim Ahmed to become Iraq's new
president. She is the wife of Jalal Talabani.

Omar al-Shaher (Al-Monitor) reports:Concerns about the possibility of Iraq sliding toward the abyss of sectarian war once
again have strongly affected commercial activities in Baghdad.
Wholesalers in many provinces shifted to the Kurdistan region in
northern Iraq, which enjoys security and stability, to obtain goods.
Also, real-estate prices in the capital dropped significantly due to a
considerable rise in supply.

Traders of food products and construction materials in the predominantly Sunni city of Ramadi, in the west of Iraq, told Al-Monitor that
they decided to shift to the wholesale markets in the city of Erbil,
the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, out of fear of going to the
Iraqi capital following news that Shiite militias set up checkpoints in the western entrances to Baghdad in search of Sunni men arriving at the capital.
Although the Iraqi security institution denied the news, the transit
station for those traveling to Baghdad in Ramadi and Tikrit, in the
predominantly Sunni Salahuddin province, has been almost empty in the
past few days.

So regionally, violence is effecting Iraq's commerce at a time when
everyone -- from NGOs to the IMF -- have warned Nouri al-Maliki's
government that Iraq needs to diversify its economy. But it struggles
to do that because of Nouri. His failure to keep agreements -- even
signed contracts like The Erbil Agreement -- that he makes within Iraq
with political blocs helps prevent the international business community
from actively working with Iraq. They don't trust him. He lies and he
lies publicly. Whether it's promising to power share, promising to meet
the demands of Iraqi protesters (in 2011, not the ongoing protests
right now), promising not to seek a third term, over and over there are
lies. That's on him, he's harming business. For example,
October 9th,
with much fanfare, and wall-to-wall press coverage, Nouri signed a $4.2
billion dollar weapons deal with
Russia. He strutted and preened and was so proud of himself. He made a
spectacle of himself which might have been okay if the deal had gone
forward. Instead, it immediately fell apart. Every other week there's
news that the deal is back on . . . then it's not. It doesn't matter if
tomorrow, over seven months later, the deal is implemented. The fact
of the matter is Nouri drew attention to himself over a huge deal that
made him look like a minor player on the world's stage and then the deal
immediately fell apart.

The lesson for businesses? Nouri's word is dirt, he can't get along
with other Iraqis and even a signed contract doesn't matter. The new "Iraq Defence & Security Report Q3 2013" from Business Monitor International finds, "Internally, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
has worsened sectarian tensions by failing to deliver on a promise to
implement a power-sharing agreement designed to safeguard the rights of
the country's different ethnic and religious groups."

In Iraq, things are heating up over an oil deal. Hassan Hafidh and James Herron (Wall St. Journal) report,
"ExxonMobil Corp. could lose its current contract to develop the West
Qurna oil field in Iraq if it proceeds with an agreement to explore for
oil in the Kurdistan region of the country, an Iraqi official said. The
spat highlights the political challenges for foreign companies operating
in Iraq" as Nouri's Baghdad-based 'national' government attempts to
rewrite the oil law over the objection of the Kurdistan Regional
Government. Tom Bergin and Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) offer,
"Exxon declined to comment, and experts speculated the move could
indicate Baghdad and the Kurdish leaders are nearing agreement on new
rules for oil companies seeking to tap into Iraq's vast oil reserves." UPI declares,
"The breakaway move into Kurdistan, the first by any of the oil majors
operating in Iraq under 20-year production contract signed in 2009,
could cost Exxon Mobil its stake in the giant West Qurna Phase One
mega-oil field in southern Iraq." Salam Faraj (AFP) speaks
with Abdelmahdi al-Amidi (in Iraq's Ministry of Oil) declares that the
Exxon contract means that Exxon would lose a contract it had previously
signed with Baghdad for the West Qurna-1 field. Faraj sketches out the
deal with the KRG beginning last month with Exxon being notified that
they had "48 hours to make a decision on investing in an oil field in
the region." Exxon was interested but sought an okay from the Baghdad
government only to be denied.

The shortest version of this ongoing soap opera is that in the
two-years-plus since that day,
Nouri and his flunkies have threatened ExxonMobil, have stated the
White House was going to stop the deal (a State Dept press briefing
cleared that up), have said they would ban ExxonMobil, they would punish
it, they would . . . ExxonMobil and the KRG are doing nothing
illegal. There's no national oil and gas law. That's on Nouri. In
2007, the White House wrote "benchmarks" for success in Iraq. These
were to keep Congress from defunding the illegal war. Iraq would meet
these benchmarks and that was how it would be demonstrated that there
was progress. On his end, Nouri signed off on the benchmarks. These
goals were really supposed to be for a year, but when Iraq couldn't meet
them, the Bully Boy Bush White House re-set the clock and started
saying that progress on these benchmarks (just talking about them
counted as progress, in the new 'understanding') was progress. One of
the benchmarks was to pass an oil and gas law. That never happened.
Six years after Nouri signed off on those benchmarks to keep US dollars
flowing into Iraq, it still hasn't happened. If there was a law,
there's a chance the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government could
be violating it. But there's no law and that's Nouri's fault. Just
last year (June 2012), April Yee (The National) was pointing out, "A hydrocarbon law remains a mirage in Baghdad and the reality is dawning
that Iraq's plans to become one of the world's top-five oil producers
are jeopardised by the legal deadlock." But that didn't wake Nouri up and nothing ever does.

In March, Reuters reported
that although ExxonMobil has been willing to sell off "its stake in the
southern Iraq West Qurna-1 oil field" and just focus on the Kurdistan
Regional Government's opportunities, "now Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki is working to keep the U.S.
oil giant on side, industry sources say, offering much sweeter terms at
West Qurna-1 – a $50-billion (U.S.) investment project and a greater
potential prize than the Kurdish blocks if Baghdad structures the
contract closer to the more lucrative Kurdish model."

UPI reports that Genel Energy (United Kingdom and Turkey)
has "confirmed the presence of a commercial oil discovery" in the KRG.
The KRG has oil and is has a history that predates the 2003 invasion.
That history includes keeping its word with businesses. That's among
the reasons businesses flock to the KRG. Yes, it's also safer but the
Green Zone in Baghdad remains one of the safest places in Iraq and
business hasn't boomed there.

While Nouri stomps his feet and obsesses over the KRG and its deals, he
can't even manage Iraq's only moneymaker at present: Oil. There have
been very few attacks on oil factories or pipelines this month.
Instead, the violence focused on people. Upstream (The International Oil and Gas Newspaper) reports:Opec crude output has fallen in May due to lower exports from Iraq and
disruptions in some African producers, as improving compliance with an
Opec output ceiling is expected to be maintained at a meeting this week,
a report said. [. . .] Iraq has shipped about 200,000 bpd less from its southern and northern
ports, according to shipping data. Exports of Kirkuk crude remain
restrained by a dispute between the central government and the Kurdistan
region over payments.

Amena Bakr and Reem Shamseddine (Reuters) report
that in Vienna today, ahead of OPEC's planned meet-up tomorrow, Iraq's
Minister of Oil Abdel-Kareem Luaibi told the press, "We are looking to
increase our exports and we aim to make our crude more competitive in
the market." These fumbled steps, by the way, are coming as Iraq's
trying to win the post of Secretary-General of OPEC and these fumbles
don't help with that. April Yee (The National) explains, "Other decisions, such as selecting a new secretary general - a position
held by Libya's Abdalla El Badri - that Saudi, Iranian and Iraqi
candidates are vying for are so contentious they are likely to be left
alone." Just ahead of Friday's meet-up, All Iraq News reports
that Minster of Oil Abudl Karim Luaibi also declared today, "Baghdad
decreased rates of the production planned at the basic oil fields in the
south of Iraq in line with more realistic target level which is nine
million barrel per day instead of 12 million barrel daily that was
planned to be achieved by 2017."

Shannon Young: A drone strike in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan killed at
least four people today. The number two leader of Pakistan's Taliban,
Wali ur-Rehman, is reportedly among the dead, although the group's
official spokesperson has not confirmed the death. The drone strike
comes less than a week after President Barack Obama pledged in a major
counterrorism speech to limit the use of weaponized unmanned aerial
vehicles. The CIA drone program is a sensitive issue in Pakistan. A
politician who has criticized the use of drones there will take office
as prime minister next Wednesday.

Last Thursday,
at Fort McNair, US President Barack Obama attempted to defend his
ongoing Drone War with remarks such as, "From our use of drones to the
detention of terrorist suspects, the decisions we are making will define
the type of nation -- and world -- that we leave to our children." And
The Drone War is something people should be proud of and want to pass
on? The Bureau of Investigative Journalism notes
Barack has ordered 317 drone strikes in Pakistan alone, resulting in the deaths of
at least 197 children. In a speech of nearly 6,500 words (I count
6,494), he never noted what Alice K. Ross (Bureau of Investigative Journalism) reported earlier this month,
that a Pakistan Peshawar High Court had ruled that these Drone Strikes
were "criminal offences," a "war crime," a "blatant violation of basic
human rights" and that the judge called for the United Nations Security
Council to step in. John Knefel (Rolling Stone) points out:One week after President Obama's much-touted speech on national security, many experts are more confused than ever
about what rules govern the U.S. government's overseas killing program
and where those rules apply. While the speech left many viewers with the
impression that Obama planned to reform or even end this program, his
administration's practices tell a different story. On Wednesday,
anonymous Pakistan security officials said that a CIA drone strike had killed the Pakistani Taliban's deputy leader, Wali ur-Rehman, in North Waziristan. A pair of additionalreported strikes
in Yemen – both officially unconfirmed by the U.S. – raise even more
questions about how and why the American government kills people in
other countries.

White House spokesman Jay Carney insisted that the promise of transparency had been fulfilled by delivering the speech
in which the promise was made itself, and then went on insist that they
would not comment on specific anti-terrorism operations.The only comment that even hinted at a pretext for the attack was
Carney reiterating President Obama’s comment that the US was obliged to
continue operations in and around Afghanistan during the NATO
occupation.

Where does The Drone War lead? To Killer Robots apparently. Australia's ABC explains:The technology is being developed in the United States, Britain and Israel, although none have actually used it yet.During
a debate at the UN Human Rights Council, special rapporteur Professor
Christof Heyns said machines lacking morality should not have
life-and-death powers over humans.

"Killer robots"
that could attack targets autonomously without a human pulling the
trigger pose a threat to international stability and should be banned
before they come into existence, the United Nations will be told by its human rights investigator this week.Christof
Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, will address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on
Thursday and call for a worldwide moratorium on what he calls "lethal
autonomous robotics" – weapons systems that, once activated, can lock on
and kill targets without further involvement of human handlers.

The Guardian uses an illustration that is what everyone will immediately think of: a machine from the Terminator film series. Nick Miller (Sydney Morning Herald) notes:During the debate Pakistan's council delegate Mariam Aftab – speaking
on behalf of 56 Islamic states – said the international community
should consider a complete ban, not just national moratoria. Lethal autonomous robots would fundamentally change the nature of war, she said.Pakistan has been the focus for anti-terrorism drone strikes.
"The experience with drones shows that once such weapons are in use, it
is impossible to stop them," said Ms Aftab.Most of the delegates said they found the report interesting
and worthy of further debate, though several said it would be better
negotiated outside of a human rights forum.

Finally, the issue of the IRS. The US agency responsible for collecting
federal taxes within the United States was caught targeting political
groups. The activity was known to the IRS and known to be wrong as
early as May 2010. One official, Lois Lerner, got a friend to ask her a
question (planted a question with a friend) earlier this month so she
could (finally) bring up the scandal. She only did so to get ahead of
the news that the Treasury Dept's Inspector General over the IRS had a
damaging report about to be released. Conservative groups were largely
targeted. They were not the only ones. Yes, "Tea Party" and "Patriot"
were 'flag words' as the IRS illegally entered into political speech,
but left groups critical of the administration were also targeted. This
fact has come out in the hearings but has largely been ignored by the
press. Today Elizabeth Flock (US News and World Reports) notes that a third of the groups were not conservative groups.

We've noted that churches and right-to-life groups were also among the
targeted -- that the IRS even inquired about prayers. Today David Lightman and Kevin G. Hall (McClatchy Newspapers) report:While the developing scandal over the targeting of conservatives by
the tax agency has largely focused to date on its scrutiny of groups
with words such as “tea party” or “patriot” in their names, these
examples suggest the government was looking at a broader array of
conservative groups and perhaps individuals. Their collective
experiences at a minimum could spread skepticism about the fairness of a
powerful agency that should be above reproach and at worst could point
to a secret political vendetta within the government against
conservatives.The emerging stories from real people raise
questions about whether the IRS scrutiny extended beyond applicants for
tax-exempt status and whether individuals who donated to these
tax-exempt organizations or to conservative causes also were targeted.

Jill Jackson and Stephanie Haven (CBS News) report
that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House
Ways and Means Committee plan to question Cincinnati workers "in the
next two weeks." Were they responsible? The Committees haven't gotten
clear answers from IRS officials such as Lois Lerner, Acting
Commissioner Steve Miller (he is now out of that job, he was in it when
appearing before Congress in the last weeks), former Commissioner
Douglas Shulman. Local media in Cincinnati has been reporting for
several weeks now that workers at that office were following orders and
were not rogue employees. Reuters notes, "The names of low-level officials who carried out
the practice have been closely guarded by IRS higher-ups and agency's
inspector general. No criminal charges have been filed." They
then offer a cautionary note that the low-levels may not be
responsible. Agreed. That's why we haven't taken that position here.
The people blaming them? That's been Lerner (who took the Fifth while
sitting before Congress last week and refused to testify), Shulman and
Miller. And Miller revealed that one of the two 'local' people punished
(the one who got an oral warning) might not have even been involved.
That's the kind of detail you determine before you hand out an oral
warning.

About Me

I'm a black working mother. I love to laugh and between work and raising kids, I need a good laugh. I'm also a community member of The Common Ills. Shout outs to any Common Ills community members stopping by. Big shout out to C.I. for all the help getting this started. I am not married to Thomas Friedman, credit me with better taste, please. This site is a parody.